H 7870

2026 -- H 7870
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 LC005111
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  STATE  OF       RHODE  ISLAND
  IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
  JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
  ____________
  AN ACT
 RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL CODE
  PROVISIONS
  Introduced By: Representatives Hull, Bennett, Biah, Shallcross Smith, and Azzinaro
  Date Introduced: February 27, 2026
  Referred To: House State Government & Elections
  (Dept. of Transportation)
 It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
1SECTION 1. Section 31-1-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 31-1 entitled "Definitions and
2 General Code Provisions" is hereby amended to read as follows:
331-1-9. Mobile equipment.
4“Mobile equipment” means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the
5 transportation of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved over a highway,
6 including but not limited to: ditch digging apparatus, well boring apparatus, and road construction
7 or maintenance machinery such as asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, tractors
8 other than truck tractors, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers,
9 scarifiers, earth moving carry-alls and scrapers, power shovels and drag lines, and self-propelled
10 cranes and earth moving equipment. The term does not include house trailers, dump trucks, truck
11 mounted transit mixers, cranes, or shovels, or other vehicles designed for the transportation of
12 persons or property to which machinery has been attached. For the purposes of this section
13 "incidentally" means actively participating in work in an active work zone, or crossing a highway
14 within a work zone. This does not include travelling down a highway under their own power.
15SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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 LC005111
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  EXPLANATION
  BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
  OF
  AN ACT
RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL CODE
  PROVISIONS
  ***
1This act would clarify when mobile equipment can travel on a public highway as an
2 incidentally permitted practice limited to the active participation in an active work zone.
3This act would take effect upon passage.
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LC005111
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